


it’s gonna go down in flames

by alphano



Category: Divergent (Movies), Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: F/M, Tris and Four are siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-03-21 14:49:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3696350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphano/pseuds/alphano
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tris is Four's little sister and she just chose Dauntless at initiation, leaving her father behind forever. Little does she know that Eric, a dauntless leader, will take a special interest in her just to annoy her brother. And little does Eric know that the little Stiff will gradually manage to worm herself into his heart, which everybody claims he doesn't have.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter is basically a prologue to everything that is going to happen so the chapters will probably get longer, I just wanted to get the idea out, because I got it half an hour ago. It might not be posted regularly, because I am very busy, but I will try to do my best. 
> 
> And the title is from Taylor Swift's Blank Space, because I have recently became a sucker for her last album and I totally blame my best friend. Also it goes well with the Dauntless theme so I said what the frick and now I have a title by Blank Space and haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate.

So there was another Stiff in Dauntless and just like the previous Stiff she was the first jumper. Eric just hoped she wouldn’t be such a pain in his ass as Four was. That was until he came in his office and read the files of all the Dauntless initiates. Beatrice - now Tris - Eaton. Four’s little sister. Well his day just got a little brighter so he walks around with a smile on his face that creeps everyone out.

The smile stays on his face the other day and he can see the transfer initiates shudder when he walks into the shooting range just as Four is explaining something.

“You each go to your own gun and I will check in on you,” he ends, which makes Eric smile even more.

“No you won’t,” replies Eric and Four is looking at him like he doesn’t understand anything. Bingo.

“I am the instructor, am I not?”

“Yes, but our rules forbid relatives to train each other during initiation. Which means you won’t be training everybody here.”

Oh yes, Eric is just having a blast of a day, especially when Four’s eyes go wide in shock and he decides it would be a good thing to intimidate Eric. And well Eric was never afraid of him, so he just crosses his arms and looks at Four like he is an idiot. Which he is.

“She stays here, she is not ready to fight with Dauntless-born initiates!”

Yeah like Eric would ever let her do that. No, he has a much better plan in his mind.

“Who said anything about her training with Dauntless-born? I just said you can’t train her.”

Eric wishes he had a camera to capture Four’s dumbstruck face when he finally puts the pieces together. For a moment he even thinks Four would punch him. But he doesn’t, because one he doesn’t want to punch a guy in front of his sister, the little not-Dautless pussy that he is or two he finally realised his place. Which is under Eric since he is only a camera watching instructor and Eris is a leader.

“I would love to chat, but we all have work to do. Come on Stiff, you are coming with me. And next time you two idiots report stuff like that to the leaders, mainly me.” He grabs Tris’ arm and practically drags her out of the range.


	2. Chapter 2

Eric was still holding the Stiff’s arm, only that he was pushing her in front of him now, rather than dragging her. They went all the way out of the training facilities and across the Pit to the elevators, where he punched a code and the elevator went down instead of up. After the doors opened, he led her through a maze of corridors to an exquisite training range.

“This, Stiff, is the leaders’ private training room so look around good, because you won’t be seeing it anytime soon after initiation is over. Now pick a gun and show me what you’ve got.”

He pointed to the guns and gestured her to get started. However the Stiff didn’t budge.

“Why are you doing this?”

He rolled his eyes, but answered nonetheless. “Because your brother can’t train you and you can’t train with the Dauntless-born so I took pity on you. Be grateful we didn’t just kick you to the curb after not reporting Four was your brother. Now pick up the gun and show me what have you got.”

But of course she still wasn’t moving. He could already see she would have been a pain in his ass if he didn’t know that the initiation process could mold her to his desires. And she would be his greatest weapon against the biggest dumbass in Dauntless.

“Aren’t you supposed to show me how?”

“I am pretty sure you are not from Erudite, so stop with the questions and just pick up the damn gun and shoot at the target.” His voice was getting dangerously low, but the Stiff finally got the message and picked up the gun. And then missed horribly. And then she missed again. And again. And again.

After six missed shots Eric had enough so he decided to help her. Keeping in mind his purpose of course. What he didn’t expect, though, was that as soon as he put his hands on her hips, she would elbow him in his chin. And with a lot more force than he deemed she possessed. He knew it would bruise. Great, just great.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing transfer?” He was livid. 

“You do not punch your instructor when he is trying to correct your stance! You have one shot to convince me you have this gun thing under control and this incident will be forgiven. If you manage to hit the centre of the target, you succeed. If not, I will punish you accordingly.” 

He knew he was being too nice, but he knew she wouldn’t hit the target, he just enjoyed making her squirm.

“I didn’t mean to punch you, it was a… It was a reflex,” she answered quietly, but he just got closer to her back, hovering right behind her, this time keeping his hands to himself. He then leaned her head, so that his lips were practically touching her ear and whispered:

“A real Dauntless would take the challenge, not find excuses. Are you Dauntless, or do I have to cut you from initiation right now?”

She took the shot and hit one of the outer rings. Impressive, since she wasn’t able to hit the target before. Maybe she even showed some promise. He smiled.

“You lost. Now run from one end of this room to another one hundred times, give me fifty jumping-jacks and fifty push-ups. After you do this, we will pay a little visit to your fellow transfers.”

This time she wasn’t even objecting. How nice of her. He did see determination in her eyes and he liked that, even though it reminded her a bit of her brother. But Eric knew that if he pressed all the right buttons, she would be fully committed to him.

He knew he should be checking how much she has done, but he figured, she would do as he said, since she was raised a Stiff, so he decided it would be a better idea to shoot his gun. He never noticed, that she was paying close attention to his stance and technique when he was shooting. He just knew that after an hour she looked gutted and in the need of a break, but the fun was only beginning.

“OK time to go see your fellow transfers,” he told her, but she just looked at him without standing up.

“Can I have a minute?”

“You didn’t give me a minute before you punched me, remember? Now get your lazy ass up.” If that girl was one thing, she was determined. Because as soon as he rejected her, she got up and followed him. 

Of course her idiot brother looked at them as soon as they stepped back into the training shooting range and Eric could see how badly the transfers were doing with a gun. Although they could also see his bruise starting to show, so there was that. Unfortunately for Eric, Four noticed it too and as soon as he stopped next to him, he could hear his question.

“What did she do? Punch you? My sister, remember.” 

Not for long though, thought Eric.

“OK everybody stop shooting. Since you all suck at hitting the targets, we are going to see if the Stiff can actually hit ten shots in a row to the inner two circles of the target. If she can, she gets free time and you have to train a lot harder to keep up with a meagre Stiff. If she doesn’t, she will stand amongst the targets and you try and hit your targets.”

Four looked like he was going to protest, but the Stiff just picked up a gun and nodded. Then she shot the damn ten rounds where she was supposed to. Eric was quietly impressed and disappointed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking this long to continue, but I was a busy bee and since my summer isn't too filled up yet, I hope I can manage to update this more regularly. But thank you all for your great response to this story!

So training the Stiff went better than Eric expected it to go. He knew that Four was a good shot now, but when he came to Dauntless, he was shit during stage one. Well at least until he started stage two and was allowed to spend extra time buffing up his physical skills, during which he learned to throw knives better than anyone else in Dauntless. His sister was his total opposite though. If Eric was honest, she was even better than some of Dauntless born. But now it was time for fighting skills.

“OK Stiff, today we will start training you for hand-to-hand combat. And since I am not a believer in punching bags, you will have to fight me.”

“But you are built like a brick wall.”

“Didn’t stop you from punching me three days ago and leaving a bruise, did it?”

That comment shut her up for at least a second, before she nodded. So they stepped in the ring and Eric began playing cat and mouse with her - he was prepared for her every move, he blocked it and threw a mean punch back at her.

“Can we please stop?” she begged after about an hour of that game. Not many people would last that long. Eric had to give her that.

“When you’ll actually hit me, you get a ten minute break. Until then, we do not stop, get it?” 

He wasn’t sure if she was about to collapse, but he was willing to take the risk. She looked too tired to even lift her arm, but she kept trying. And all was going according to plan, until he managed to grip her from behind. And that’s when she punched him back. Hard. In the stomach. So hard, he had to take a couple of seconds to remember how to breathe.

“Well you got your break now,” he said to her, after he was composed enough. She collapsed right where she was standing and just lay there on the mat, breathing hard.

“What will my punishment be now?”

“No punishment, you get your break.”

“Yes, but what is the catch?”

“You ask a lot of questions for a Stiff.”

“And you never answer them.”

Eric laughed a bit at that statement, but it was true. 

“And why would I answer to you?”

After she was silent for about a minute, he spoke again: “What is it with you and throwing the most vicious punches when I startle you from behind?”

Her breathing stopped for a bit and her heart started thumping loud enough for him to hear. She didn’t give him an answer though, so he decided to look into it later. He was sure it was something, that would come in handy though. 

“OK break is over, let’s get back to it and try not to suck so much this time.”

\----------

Fact was, Eric threw quite a few punches at the Stiff, enough to bruise and hurt like a bitch, but not enough to even knock her out, what the other initiates should be doing, but Eric had the suspicion, they weren’t, because he wasn’t there to supervise and both the instructors were softies. He should really find new instructors for the initiates…

OK so yes, the Stiff looked beaten down, but not enough for Four to be in a state.

“You are just torturing her, because she is my sister! And you know that is against Dauntless code! I mean she looks like she has been pounded on for weeks! Someone impartial should be her instructor, not you!”

Eric took another glance at the Stiff and then looked across the dining hall to the other initiates. He was sure, she looked in a better state than any of them.

“Four, I think we already discussed this. You are not to sit down at the same table during meals or allowed to talk to her during initiation, because you are an instructor and the Stiff is your sister. It is against the rules. And unlike you, I take my job seriously. Now if you don’t want me to kick her out of Dauntless right now for having contact with a biased instructor, shut your mouth and leave.”

Eric finished that mini statement with a smirk and it got the desired effect out of Four. Oh, how fun it was to toy with him.

“You are being a dick to her, just because you hate me!” Four exclaimed. What Eric wasn’t prepared for, was the Stiff speaking out, though (she was sitting at his table during meals so he could supervise her contact with Four or in other words he could see Four fuming, because the entire situation was pissing him off).

“Tobias, just leave, like you always have. I can defend myself, remember?”

That shut Four nicely and Eric’s smirk got even bigger. Things were really going his way, what with Four’s sister now being on his side.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I am the worst with updating this and am really sorry. However I am writing Chapter 5 right after I post this one, so that one should be up tomorrow to make up for the huge gap between the last two.
> 
> SORRY AGAIN!

So today was visiting day and Eric could do nothing to prevent Four from seeing the Stiff. But surprisingly enough, the Stiff somehow managed to get into the leaders’ accommodation early in the morning and was sitting in front of his door.

“It’s against the rules to be here, Stiff…” he told her with an annoyed voice, but really he was impressed. The initiates were not allowed anywhere near any accommodation but their own, so she had to sneak past the guards somehow.

“Can I please train today?”

Well that took him by an even bigger surprise. But something was off… She looked… broken? And Eric wanted to be an ass, really, but he also needed her to trust him so he could use her against Four in the long run. So he went with the semi-ass attitude.

“Weren’t you going to let your brother fuss all over you and tell you how much of a meanie I am? And then cry to him about how the big bad wolf is treating you? And then your whole Stiff family can have a nice quiet picnic, because Marcus is coming here for a meeting.”

“Please, I’ll do anything you want me to do, just…”

“Begging is not for the Dauntless, Stiff,” he reciprocated, but he could see a golden opportunity. The Stiff just offered to do anything for him, didn’t she? And the more grateful she would be to him, the less she would trust her brother. Also he shouldn’t be able to see that kind of fear in her eyes until Stage Two.

“Fine, but you’ll be locked up down there for the entire day, because I have more important things to do than to babysit you. And we can’t have you wandering aimlessly down there without supervision. But if you don’t lead my team to victory tonight in capture the flag in return, there will be hell to pay.”

“Capture the what?” she questioned, but he could already see the fear leaving her body.

\----------

So locking her up in the training range might have been the best idea ever, even if it wasn’t his. Why? Because he managed to piss out both Four and Marcus Eaton. Oh what a glorious day.

It started with Four during breakfast, accusing him of holding her sister prisoner. To that Eric only replied, that he had absolutely no idea where the little Stiff was and that Four is a really bad camera watcher if he can not keep track of a meager Stiff. Four nearly threw a punch at him there and there and it was just so amusing to watch his eyebrows twitching! Eric should really do this more often.

It then continued with Marcus Eaton wanting the privilege of talking to his daughter in private, to which the entire Dauntless leadership just said that he should find her then. And she was nowhere to be found. Which left Marcus with a twitching eyebrow and a yelling match in the camera control room with Four.

Let’s just say if there was popcorn, Eric would be eating it while looking at the two Eatons.

Suffice to say, he was in a grand mode when he went to pick up the Stiff in the evening. He was expecting her to be sleeping on the mat or something with the way he was training her, but no, she was furiously punching a dummy.

“Your technique is still flawed. Also you have 15 minutes of dinner left. I would suggest you grab a couple of hours of sleep then.”

She was a bit startled at his voice, but still nodded and went to the door where he was standing. He was expecting her to just pass him to go to the elevator, but she stopped. Then he saw something unusual and knew he won. The Stiff gave him the tiniest smile.

“Thanks for today.”


	5. Chapter 5

None of the initiatives had a long sleep before they were woken up by older Dauntless members and ushered towards a train. Not that Eric had any kind of sleep before throwing them all up again, but you know, no one would sympathize with him. But he just knew he would feel better again, because he would beat Four at the freaking game of Capture the Flag.

“So you will be divided into two teams, guided by me and Eric. The team that wins, gets extra cake tomorrow. The team that loses, gets no cake. So I would suggest you really stick together in order to win.” 

While Four was making his little speech, Eric was leaning against the wall of the train, studying everyone and forming a team in his mind. He had a pretty nice idea of whom he wanted and he knew for a fact that Four would go for none of his choices but one. The one he couldn’t really have. So all was well.

“OK so now that Four has finished with the boring part, let’s get to the fun bit. You will all be equipped with these,” Eric started explaining whilst throwing paintball guns around.

“But they don’t have regular paintballs in them, they tend to sting a little, so be careful with them,” Four hastily added and Eric couldn’t help but sigh.

After that they divided into teams, Eric taking the Stiff and all the big muscled people from both the dauntless born group and the transfers, and Four being left behind with scraps. Four’s team leaves the train first and right after that, Eric addresses his team.

“So what is your strategy? And you better win me this thing, or cake will be the least of your worries.”

The first one to answer was of course the smartass that is Peter.

“We should attack them by brute force. We are stronger than them and basically Four has a team of pussies.”

Eric liked the last part of the little brat’s opinion, but it wasn’t good enough, so he said nothing.

“Or you could cause a distraction and a part of our team could sneak in and steal the flag.” The Stiff had the best idea? Really? Well he must have done something right.

“Oh so you could have all the glory, you little Stiff?” Peter responded immediately. But for some reason Eric didn’t have to step up, because two dauntless born started a verbal battle with Peter, supporting Tris. He let it go for a while, but after some time he had enough and kicked them all of the train.

Somehow they reached an agreement to put the Stiff and the two dauntless born, who defended her, on the stealth team while the others performed a brute force attack. All that was left to do, was to find the other team. Which should have been hard, but the idiots forgot to turn off their lights.

Turns out they were prepared for the brute force attack, but not so much the stealth team and the victory was in Eric’s hands. What was the best, was the Stiff shooting Four in order to get the flag. The look of shock was priceless. So you know, all in all it was a good night.

\----------

It wouldn’t have been Dauntless, if the initiates didn’t have some sort of trial right after a night out. In this case, the final matches of Stage One. And just to make things interesting, Eric decided to make it tournament style, while still rigging the starting round so that the weak ones were out at once. What everyone was surprised at (well actually Four was fuming with anger that it even came to that match), was that in the second round, the Stiff eliminated Peter. She was a little worse to wear, but came in 5th in the end, which was the second place of the transfers. To no one's surprise the dauntless borns, Uriah and Marlene, were first and second respectively.

“This concludes Stage One. Tomorrow you will be notified about who stays and who goes. Today, you can relax a little.” Of course Four would talk about relaxing. Dauntless was always alert and ready to fight, not like that pansy.

The biggest surprise for Eric was, how the little Stiff, Tris, decided to relax when she came to dinner. Even though her bruises were starting to show (and she had a lot of them after the fights she did that day), she decided to wear a killer black dress that even some of the Dauntless girls would be wary off. Let’s just say that there was nothing Abnegation about that dress. Or that it left anything to imagination. 

So no one could really blame Eric, when he put his hand to the lower of her back to lead her to his table, where she was sitting because of supervision and you know, to piss Four off. If his hand ventured a little lower, well he was a man and she didn’t resist or hit him. However her brother broke his plate.

“You are just doing this to piss him off, aren’t you?” she asked Eric with a little mischief in her eyes.

“Aren’t you?”

The shrug of her shoulders and the little smile was answer enough to him.


End file.
